Which games should be novelised?

[AMMO Kid]

Mass Effect has a great story so I'll go with that.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

Portal.

I dunno it just feels like it had potential in novelizing.

Any other game I can think of that could be novelized, was because it already has a novel, or was based off of a novel.

DO NOT WANT! Portal would NOT make a good novelisation. I mean, really, would you want to read 250 pages of fucking cake references?!

 

[AMMO Kid]

There is an official GoW book ya know

God of War or Gears of War?

 

[Dreey]

Hahaha Gears of War!
Think about it! All that shooting and gore would be epic in written form!

 

[the Dept of Science]

If they can't even turn games into half decent (heck, even not-shitty) films, there is no chance for turning them into books.
Similarly, I can't think of any novelisations of films (book written after the film) that were better than the film.

I've always thought that pieces of art or entertainment generally got put in their original medium because people thought that medium would work best for the story/concept. Adaptations almost always lose something when the medium is transferred.

Take Planescape for an example, brilliantly written game. The fact that it was conceived as a game and written as a game leads me to believe that it should stay that way. The unique game mechanics, the interactivity, the scale and scope, the art direction, would all be lost in a book adaptation.
Why is the game by itself not enough? Someone that could extract a good book from the premise would probably be worthy of doing something better than an adaptation.

 

[Flamex]

After reading that Warcraft book, im gonna say, no thanks, they are always some sort of marketing attempt, while being pretty terrible.

What wacraft book? there are plenty, i've only read rise of the horde and lord of the clans and both we're very good but then again they are only good for warcraft/wow players

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Hey, a Fallout 3 book could be good.
Fallout just has such a rich background, and interesting locations, people, and monsters.
It's make for a good read, I reckon.

 

[Dreey]

Hahaha Gears of War!
Think about it! All that shooting and gore would be epic in written form!

And right after saying this i discover that Gears of War already have a bestseller novel already out, and they are planning a second one

but to clarify i did mean that they should make the game into a novel, not make a novel about something else within the same universe...

 

[Loonerinoes]

Planescape Torment end of discussion. The game is already a fucking novel because the game's script contains around 800,000 words. Playing the game is like reading a novel.

Pretty much my own sentiments. It reads like a book half the time so...it would not be hard to adapt it to that medium in any way really.

 

[Dr. Paine]

Half Life, it's not like we know much of the story already. Dystopia is always fun.

Half life could work, except Freeman doesn't talk. Well even then it would only work if it was set in the Half life universe, but completely set away from Freeman, Vance, Dr Kleiner etc. Maybe from the point of view of an aperture science scientist in the weeks following the Black Mesa indecent would be cool.

Actually, I've said a novel with Alyx as the main character, going from Black Mesa to City 17 would be interesting.

I also support a Portal novel of sorts- maybe explore more of Aperture's history, GLaDOS' construction, things like that.

 

[TheComedown]

Half Life, it's not like we know much of the story already. Dystopia is always fun.

Half life could work, except Freeman doesn't talk. Well even then it would only work if it was set in the Half life universe, but completely set away from Freeman, Vance, Dr Kleiner etc. Maybe from the point of view of an aperture science scientist in the weeks following the Black Mesa indecent would be cool.

Actually, I've said a novel with Alyx as the main character, going from Black Mesa to City 17 would be interesting.

I also support a Portal novel of sorts- maybe explore more of Aperture's history, GLaDOS' construction, things like that.

Not right after the Black Mesa incident? Cause she was just a little girl then.

And if the aperture science side of things got a book i don't think it should include GLaDOS, at least not in a huge way, a reference here and there, but she shouldn't be a main part of the story.

 

[FlipC]

*This "concept" is a gimmick to squeeze more money out of you, if you don't see that I won't insist, but it is the God given truth. They are written purely so that they can be sold along with a game in a special edition for more money or written for a succesful franchise to make even more money.

By that logic we shouldn't have 2001 or Blade Runner on the grounds that turning a novel into a film is just a " gimmick to squeeze more money out of you". Just because that's the way the majority currently appear doesn't mean that's how they have to.

Hence my question - what game would you want to see novelised?

False.

Books to movies is entirely different from games to books.

Here you have an adaptation, and taking stuff a great source and squeeezing it into a movie, where in our case you have something supposedly bigger and more complex coming from a shooter,RTS,etc. game that has a few characters and a plot only made to give you new missions, in short it's bad because they need to make up, add more to a simple (VERY ) simple plot.And returning to my first part, it is more expected from something less.That's why it's different.

Yet we've had the suggestion of Planescape Torment with its 80,000 word script, we've got AC:Renaissance which followed the game of Assassin's Creed 2 with little deviation and ended up a 500+ page novel and I still think Second Sight could be awesome.

Sure if it's done as a gimmick it's going to be bad, but so too is any translation in any direction. If it could be done right what game do you think could be transformed this way?

 

[PurpleSky]

*This "concept" is a gimmick to squeeze more money out of you, if you don't see that I won't insist, but it is the God given truth. They are written purely so that they can be sold along with a game in a special edition for more money or written for a succesful franchise to make even more money.

By that logic we shouldn't have 2001 or Blade Runner on the grounds that turning a novel into a film is just a " gimmick to squeeze more money out of you". Just because that's the way the majority currently appear doesn't mean that's how they have to.

Hence my question - what game would you want to see novelised?

False.

Books to movies is entirely different from games to books.

Here you have an adaptation, and taking stuff a great source and squeeezing it into a movie, where in our case you have something supposedly bigger and more complex coming from a shooter,RTS,etc. game that has a few characters and a plot only made to give you new missions, in short it's bad because they need to make up, add more to a simple (VERY ) simple plot.And returning to my first part, it is more expected from something less.That's why it's different.

Yet we've had the suggestion of Planescape Torment with its 80,000 word script, we've got AC:Renaissance which followed the game of Assassin's Creed 2 with little deviation and ended up a 500+ page novel and I still think Second Sight could be awesome.

Sure if it's done as a gimmick it's going to be bad, but so too is any translation in any direction. If it could be done right what game do you think could be transformed this way?

Off the top of my head.....heavy rain. Or another murder game, but no sci-fi alien stuff.

 

[SyphonX]

None..

It should be the other way around. Video games are not particularly dense in narrative and structure.

It's funny, because most games are inspired by a novel one way or another, indirectly or directly, and then the games themselves will be 'novelized'. Weird.

I'd rather they spend those resources on the game itself. Am I the only one that absolutely adores the lore and books in Oblivion? You could literally go into a library or bookstore and read all about the game world.. amazing. Who remembers reading about mythical artifacts in Morrowind.. and then actually finding one? How intense was that?!

 

[dududf]

Portal.

I dunno it just feels like it had potential in novelizing.

Any other game I can think of that could be novelized, was because it already has a novel, or was based off of a novel.

DO NOT WANT! Portal would NOT make a good novelisation. I mean, really, would you want to read 250 pages of fucking cake references?!

Actually, I think it'd be a good book. Think about the atmosphere, you're a test subject, in an abondoned location, there's a robot that at first seems sincere, then moves to sinister, and the mindset of chell during this.

I think it could have some potential.